Friday, 30 September 2011

With another brief monologue on the subject of fate to kick off proceedings, Mawaru Penguindrum reaches its half-way stage with a very real example of the ties that bind at least some of its characters together as it continues the discussion from last week's episode.

After Ringo revealed the fate of her sister and how it ties into not only the day of her birth but also those of Shouma and Kanba, we now learn exactly why Shouma suggested that Momoka's death was all his (or rather, his family's) fault. In short, the Takakura siblings parents were directly responsible for the subway attacks which resulted in the death of Ringo's sister and many others as some of the higher-ups in the organisation which planned and carried out the bombings (as they seem to be depicted here despite the obvious correlations to the Tokyo sarin gas attacks).

The exact relevance of this is pushed to one side somewhat however, as Himari collapses once again - this time, it seems that even her penguin hat isn't enough to revive her. Cue an emergency trip to hospital and a rather long-winded story about Mary and her three lambs from Shouma. While it seems that nothing will save Himari from her fate this time, it doesn't stop Kanba trying in what seems to be a transfer of his life force to Himari's "parasite" - it appears that it isn't the first time he's done this either. Is this really the end for his sister though? It seems that way, but who knows what other tricks this series has up its sleeve...

Another episode brings us even more questions rather than answers, with references to black rabbits abounding while Kanba's past seems deeper and darker than ever in itself. I am beginning to worry that we're looking at a series that's all style and no substance on account of its constantly side-stepping big issues, but hopefully the second half of the series can start delving into things a little more deeply rather than piling on more and more flashbacks and chunks of back story. Until it starts to do so, I have to admit that my interest in the series is beginning to wane a little as it becomes increasingly impenetrable, but the time seems ripe for some far more interesting stuff so I shall still be eagerly awaiting next week's episode. Except I'll be in Nottingham next Friday, so chances are I won't be able to watch it for a while.